This year Julia Carlson ’11, Joel Greenberg ’12, and Gina Sultan ’10 worked with a support staff of 13 students and faculty advisor Barbara Rubel, Tufts Director of Community Relations, to coordinate 21 groups of freshmen and 42 student leaders.
“Tufts gives its students so many opportunities and this is a great way to begin,” Greenberg, a sophomore who also serves in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, explained. “Active citizenship is best when it's done as a community. FOCUS allows new Tufts students to meet in groups and be led into Tufts' surroundings by returning students - many of whom did FOCUS as freshmen themselves.”
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| Julie Furbush for Tufts Photo |
“The PBJ jam provided a great way for our students to begin bonding, and be thrown into the world of community service - 2100 sandwiches went to the Greater Boston Food Bank,” said Greenberg. “Some groups held food drives at Shaw's in Porter Square and canvassed in the communities to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition and the Unitarian Universalist church pantry in Cambridge.”
Current graduate student Kris Coombs participated in FOCUS throughout his undergraduate years at Tufts, and says it’s been a huge part of his life. “I participated as an incoming freshman, lead a group as a sophomore, coordinated as a junior, and led again as a senior while mentoring the coordinators for that year. This year, since I was still around for graduate school, I ended up just helping out as needed,” Coombs said.
The student coordinators praised the way that FOCUS helps incoming students integrate into their new communities. “Students who participate in FOCUS have a tremendous opportunity to get used to Tufts as well as its host communities,” said Greenberg. “The 'FOCUSers' quickly learn to navigate the city as well as to become familiar with various ways to participate in active service.”
Beyond pre-orientation, civic engagement was also an important element in the regular orientation sessions for all incoming students. This year marked the fourth year Tisch College and the Office of Undergraduate Education sponsored the Tufts University Common Reading Program. The program, in which all incoming undergraduates receive an active citizenship themed common reading book, fosters a shared intellectual experience for incoming students and provides a foundation for critical thinking with a focus on a pressing social issue.
This year’s book, Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat, a National Book Award finalist, tells the story of several parts of the author's family, in and out of Haiti in 2004. It is a beautifully written account of different paths taken, and the impact of UN and US policies on the lives of individual Haitians.
Additionally, all incoming students had the opportunity to learn about working in the community at a special orientation session. Run by Tisch College Senior Program Manager Mindy Nirenberg, the session brought together a panel of students to share their first hand experiences working and volunteering in Tufts host communities.
